Santa Clara County Office of Public Guardian v. G.H.
Opinion
Opinion
Rushing, J.
G.H. appeals from an order reappointing a conservator of his person under the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 5000 et seq.). His appeal calls upon us to address the question of whether the trial court can impose a terminating sanction, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2032.410, against a proposed LPS conservatee in the absence of a court order requiring a mental examination of the proposed conservatee.
Background
In 1998, the Santa Clara County Superior Court established a conservator-ship over G.H.’s person pursuant to the LPS Act. Since that time, G.H. has been under continuous conservatorship.
On March 27, 2012, the Santa Clara County Office of the Public Guardian (hereafter Public Guardian) filed a petition to be reappointed G.H.’s conservator under the LPS Act. The petition alleged that G.H. remained gravely disabled as a result of mental disorder.
G.H.’s counsel requested that the matter be set for an evidentiary hearing. The trial court set the evidentiary hearing for May 9, 2012.
On May 9, 2012, G.H. was not present in court. The Public Guardian explained that G.H. had refused to submit to a mental examination with the…